Is JEFF BENNER Now into ZEN BUDDHISM and the Kabbalists' ZOHAR ?

Did the Spirit of ZEN  Influence this Theory of Creation  by Mr. Benner and Mr. Calpino ??  

Their book was printed in 2011 and is sold on Amazon.However, AMAZON refused 3 times to print my REVIEW of  GENESIS, ZEN, and QUANTUM PHYSICS: A Fresh Look at THEOLOGY and the SCIENCE of Creation, by Mr. Jeff Benner and Mr. Michael Calpino .

LOOKING THROUGH THE EYES OF THE MASORETIC TEXT: A FEW EXAMPLES OF MINGLING  ZEN, the ZOHAR,  AND QUANTUM PHYSICS WITH the HEBREW MASORETIC:  

WHAT A MIXTURE !  The reader must sort through this barrage of philosophy to separate truth from error.

[ If the HOLY touches an unclean, what happens to the holy ? Bible students know the answer to that . ]

No matter HOW you look at the book of GENESIS . . . . Zen Buddhism, "AYN SOPH"** and quantum physics ( that is: everything is energy; matter does not exist )   can NOT mix with The HEBREW book of GENESIS, the Holy WORD of GOD.

Zen followers are taught to worship and meditate before an idol. Zen cannot mix with HEBREW in thought nor in WORD. And MOST CERTAINLY, NOT IN SPIRIT .

Here are a few short examples taken directly from Mr. Benner's book.

For instance, English Bible readers all know that Genesis 1:1 states:

“ In the beginning, GOD created the Heavens and the earth.”

In the Hebrew, it states: 

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ׃

 

Many Bible students are aware that The ELOHIM , the plural ONE , is a collective noun functioning as a UNIT. The ELOHIM is translated into English as “GOD.”

However, in Mr. Benner and Mr. Calpino’s book, Genesis 1:1 states:

1# Within the Beginning, he filled the powers, the skies and the land.

Astute Readers of both Hebrew and English might well ask: Who is “he” and what are the “powers” ? And, what did "he" fill the "powers" with ?

As we move on through Genesis 1, we discover ELOHIM suddenly is transformed from “he” into those very powers, now capitalized : Powers. ( ! ? ! )

For instance, let us look at this familiar verse , verse 25.

25# And the Powers aligned the chayah of the land to her bloodline and the walker to her bloodline and all the crawler of the ground to his bloodline. And the Powers saw the beauty.

Most Readers might be able to follow that verse after a few moments of concentration.

IN CONTRAST , the Masoretic states:

And ELOHIM made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and ELOHIM saw that it was good.

25ויעש אלהים את חית הארץ למינה ואת הבהמה למינה ואת כל רמש האדמה למינהו וירא אלהים כי טוב׃

 

This book states in verse 25 “Powers” again instead of ELOHIM ( . . . so who was “he” in verse 1 ? )

IN ADDITION to ousting ELOHIM from this verse, Mr. Benner changes “good” to “beauty”.

But later, he changes “good” to FUNCTIONAL as in Genesis 2:9, to wit:

9# And YHVH the Powers grew from the ground all the trees that were pleasing to the sight and good for food, trees of the chayim in the middle of the protected region and the trees of the experience of function and dysfunction.

ויצמח יהוה אלהים מן האדמה כל עץ נחמד למראה וטוב למאכל ועץ החיים בתוך הגן ועץ הדעת טוב ורע׃

And you guessed it: EVIL becomes “dysfunction” !

This is Mr. Benner’s own translation of good and evil, according to his other book: New Testament Greek to Hebrew Dictionary, page 63.

Oddly enough, he did not change "good for food" into FUNCTIONAL for food. Wonder why ?

NOW , RETURNING TO GENESIS 1, let us review another verse in Mr. Benner's book which is familiar to Bible readers: 1:26

26# And the Powers said, “We will make an adam in our shadow, like our origin. And they journeyed among the swimmers of the sea and among the flyers of the skies and among the walkers and among all the land and among all the crawlers over the land.”

ויאמר אלהים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו וירדו בדגת הים ובעוף השמים ובבהמה ובכל הארץ ובכל הרמש הרמש על הארץ׃

Hm-m-m. Va-yomer ELOHIM … did The ELOHIM really say “We will make adam in our SHADOW , like our ORIGIN ??

Strange translation, this. Does The ELOHIM have an ORIGIN ?

Well, let us read on to the next verse and see if we recognize anything in this one, in Mr. Benner's translation.

27# And he commanded and the Powers filled the man with his shadow, with the shadow of the Powers he filled him, mind and womb he filled them.

Didn’t recognize it ? Let us read Verse 27 from the Masoretic:

So ELOHIM created ADAM in his own image, in the image of ELOHIM created he him; male and female created he them.

27ויברא אלהים את האדם בצלמו בצלם אלהים ברא אתו זכר ונקבה ברא אתם׃

Upon closer inspection of the Hebrew text, we see that the authors CONFUSED two Hebrew words from a common root and they did this with BOTH “male” and “female ” .

What a strange way to translate the Masoretic text which was meticulously guarded and watched over for centuries !

In particular, the word for “male” is ZaKaR.

The verb, taken from the same root, means “ to remember.” Obviously, the ELOHIM made and created a NOUN of substance, not a verb. And yes, the vowel pointing is different between "MALE" and "MIND." See Benjamin Davidson’s The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, page 238.

For “female,” the author’s mistranslation is equally ludicrous.

Qof-Beth-Heth ( womb ) is NOT the same word as found in the Hebrew text, which is: Nun-Qof-Beth-Heth ( female) . . . with different vowel pointing than “womb”. See Benjamin Davidson’s Hebrew and Chaldee Analytical Lexicon, page 560.

How could Mr. Benner, who is a Hebrew scholar, have confused these two words, so basic to the Hebrew Scriptures ?

Let us read on in Mr. Benner's book:

28# The Powers knelt to them and the Powers said to them, “Bear fruit and become great, and complete the land and rule her . . .

BUT IN THE MASORETIC TEXT:

Vay-BaReK ( And Blessed) ELOHIM them, and ELOHIM said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it . . .

28ויברך אתם אלהים ויאמר להם אלהים פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ וכבשה ורדו בדגת הים ובעוף השמים ובכל חיה הרמשת על הארץ׃

So now . . . Mr. Benner and Mr. Calpino would have us believe that The ELOHIM KNELT DOWN to Adam and Eve ?

Chapter 2: verse 3# Now, we see this mysterious “he” emerge again in this verse, in Mr. Benner's book:

And the Powers knelt on the seventh work in chaos and He (Powers) assigned him (Shabbat) because in him He (Ayn Soph) stopped from all his instructions which he filled the Powers for function.

DO READERS UNDERSTAND THAT VERSE ? Here is what this verse really states:

And ELOHM blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which ELOHIM created and made.

ויברך אלהים את יום השביעי ויקדש אתו כי בו שבת מכל מלאכתו אשר ברא אלהים לעשות׃

These few examples give Readers a taste of the flavor of this book which mingles Zen and Quantum Physics ( energies, not matter ) and the concepts in the ZOHAR with the HOLY WORD of GOD.

In short, this book is NOT a translation of the Hebrew Masoretic text, or any Hebrew text. It is not a translation of the Greek Old Testament either.

It is simply an exercise in metaphysical extrapolation which does NOT follow the standard rules for translating a text from Hebrew into the English language.

It also is a SPIRITUAL PERVERSION , distorting the TRUTH found in the HOLY WORD of the ELOHIM.

No,

the HOLY WORD of GOD does not mingle with Zen Buddhism nor Quantum Physics .

Nor the "Ayn Soph"** of the ZOHAR.

Let Readers be aware of the ZEN spirit infiltrating this book. We know THAT did NOT come from the ANCIENT HEBREW TEXTS, Mr. Benner. 

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** Here is information on the AYN SOPH: 

7 AIN SOPH (Hebrew) “Limitless One”

 
The supreme title for the Infinite out of which all other creation proceeds. The foundation for All in the universe.

O Ain Soph, Praise to Thee who created our spirits before this world was and whose Greatness guides all future worlds through Thy sons and daughters of Light. Amen.

https://keysofenoch.org/hebrew-aramaic-sacred-names/

"The Zohar says,' to create the world, It (Ein Sof, Infinite Nothingness) emanated a secret spark (awareness) from which emerged and radiated all light. The upper world was constituted of this light. 

Then a [different dimension of] light, a light without brightness (lower consciousness), was fashioned into the lower world. As it is composed of unilluminated light, the lower world is attracted to the upper world." 

3https://carm.org/zohar    SEE “ K “  for KABBALAH

Its scope of teaching seems to include predictions of the coming Messiah.  

Apparently, the ZOHAR predicted the return of the Messiah in 1648 which was fulfilled in Shabbetai Zvi from Smyrna in Asia Minor.  

He gathered many followers, so much so that the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire thought that he must be stopped. He [ The Sultan ] captured Sabbettai and given the ultimatum to convert to Islam or die.  He converted to Islam.4 

Is this the work of the MESSIAH, to convert to a false religious system under threat of death?  Of course not.